it sure left its mark on us
by ohmytheon
Summary: (Modern AU, Soulmate Tattoos) When Gendry wakes up the day of his eighteenth birthday to find the words of his soulmate tattooed on him, he knows that his life is going to change. But when he meets the ridiculously stubborn girl who says those words, he's pretty sure that Arya Stark is going to be the death of him.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** This will be series of drabbles using the Soulmates Tattoo AU created by kenezbian that is going around on tumblr using characters from ASIOAF/GOT. Some will be set in a modern AU, others won't be. Pairings and characters will vary and more will be added as the drabbles are written. This one is focused on Gendry and Arya.

**Disclaimer:** Ha, like I own anything. I don't even own this idea.

* * *

**it sure left its mark on us**  
_part one_

* * *

Gendry had been dreading this day since he first learned about the tale. He remembered watching his mother wash their clothes, wash other people's clothes, clean their houses, take out their trash – but what he remembered most were all the stories that she would tell him. People waking up on their eighteenth birthday with tattoos of their soulmate's first words to them – it was a thing of beauty or so his mother told him. She had no ink on her body to speak of. All she had was him.

_"__I don't need anyone else,"_ she would tell him as she washed his hair or put him to bed if he ever inquisitively brought it up. "I have you, Gendry. You're all the love I need."

When she thought he wasn't looking though, he saw how worn down she looked, how downcast and dim her eyes were and the reds of her eyes, her red and calloused hands, and thinning and graying hair. He always told her that he loved her, but it wasn't what she needed or truly wanted, he knew.

She died when he was seven. Of cancer, he was told, but he knew better. She died of a broken, lonely heart.

So when Gendry woke up on his eighteenth birthday in the shoddy apartment he'd been renting since he was sixteen, he didn't want to look at himself. Somehow or another, he was able to shower, wash up, and put on his clothes without so much as glancing at his body. He went to the garage and avoided everyone's glances and telling looks. Working on cars took his mind off of everything and made him feel better. He could almost pretend that it was just another normal day and he may or may not have a soulmate. He didn't care. It didn't matter.

That was until his half sister Mya popped into the shop on his break. He was just doodling on a notepad and eating a ham and cheese sandwich when she burst into the room and said, "Okay, what's it say?"

Gendry jumped and gripped his pen so tightly that it broke in half and ink exploded all over him. "What the hell, Mya? You can't just come in here! Tobho–"

"Won't even know I'm here." Mya smiled all predatory-like. "Now show me."

"No," he told her firmly.

"C'mon, show me."

But Gendry shook his head. "No, Mya, I mean – I didn't even look."

"Show– What? You didn't even look?" Mya was not one to be shocked, but she genuinely looked and sounded incredulous. Her blue eyes widened and her eyebrows arched. Gendry gave her an abashed look and started to wave his hand in the air when Mya was suddenly on him, pulling on his shirt. "Let me see!"

"Mya, stop it, Mya!" Gendry fought with her, but she was relentless. He may have been bigger than her, but she was quicker, shoving up his sleeves and pulling his shirt up. He struggled, but she somehow managed to pull his shirt up so far that it was over his face and he couldn't see, his shouts awkwardly muffled by the clothing.

Finally, she let out a triumphant shout and stopped her assault. "Found it!"

Gendry felt a ridiculous wave of relief wash over him. He hadn't even realized how tense he'd been. He froze on the spot, closing his eyes from underneath his shirt and taking in a deep breath. "What does it say?"

Mya pulled his shirt down just enough so that he could look at her. There was an amused grin on her face. "It says, 'Watch where you're going, you stupid head,'" she told him, biting her lip to keep herself from laughing.

"Um…" Gendry scratched the back of his head. He slowly pulled his shirt back down. Mya stood up straight, her hands on her hips, looking at him smugly. Her tattoo was on her back, but the words had yet to be said. That didn't matter though. Just having the words gave her the peace. Now he understood why she felt the way she did. He wouldn't be alone, not like his mother, not like hers. "Right then."

"Sounds like your soulmate is a spitfire," Mya said as she started out the door. "Better watch out – or, I guess, not watch out."

Gendry threw a wad of paper at her, but she just laughed and shut the door, the wad bouncing off the door harmlessly. His sister could be a pain in the ass, but he loved her and knew that she meant well.

He went back to work and finished out the day. A few of the guys whistled at him as he was leaving, letting him know that Mya had let slip that he had the telltale tattoo, but he ignored them as he ran over to the gas station. All he wanted was a coke before he headed home and crashed for the night. It was pouring out, which was going to make riding his bike back home problematic, but he'd ridden in worse.

Right as he ran inside, he bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going, stupid head!"

Gendry blinked, staggering backwards. "I, uh…" He was still standing in the rain when he focused and spotted a girl standing before him. She was small, much smaller than him and even Mya. Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a messy hair bun and she was wearing clothes that hung on her loosely. The one thing that stuck out to him was how young she looked. "Sorry, I just–"

"What's your problem?" the girl asked. "You're not slow, are you? You're just…standing there in the rain."

"I'm not… I'm not slow." Gendry stepped inside and shook some of the water out of his hair. "You just caught me off guard." He chewed on the inside, twirling it around in his head, but he knew that if he didn't say anything now, he would spend who knows how long agonizing over it. He held out his hand. "I'm Gendry, Gendry Waters."

The girl looked at him suspiciously for a second and then shook his hand, answering, "Arya Stark."

This time, Gendry nearly started choking. A Stark? She was a Stark? They were rich as hell and he was nowhere on their level. He ran his fingers through his hair. "What are you doing in this part of the area?"

"Look; just because I'm a Stark doesn't mean–"

Gendry threw his hands up in the air. "I didn't mean anything by that. I just– Well, it is a shady part of town. I've lived in this area my whole life and I figured I might as well not own a car after it got broken into once a week."

"You're a mechanic that doesn't own a car?"

"Yeah, I–" Gendry furrowed his brows. "Wait; how did you know I was a mechanic?"

Arya rolled her eyes. "The uniform kind of gives it away."

"Oh, right." Yeah, maybe he was a bit slow after the day's work. He stepped past her, heading in the direction of the cokes, feeling a little woozy and lost. What do you say when you've met the person that's destined to be your soulmate? "Well, I guess I'll, uh, see you around or something."

"Yeah, sure." Arya started to walk out the door.

Gendry spun around. "Wait – how old are you?"

Arya gave him a disgruntled look. "What kind of weird question is that? You're not one of those guys into young girls, are you?"

"What?" Gendry burned bright red and began to sputter. "I – no, I just – no–"

She just shook her head at him. Gendry had never been a great liar. He had a bad habit of blurting out the truth when it came to himself. When it came to other people's secrets, he'd keep those secrets to his grave. When it came to his own, well, he just never had any secrets to keep.

"I'm sixteen," she finally said.

And then it all clicked for him – why she hadn't reacted with shock or glee or anything. She was sixteen. She hadn't hit the age mark. She didn't have her tattoo yet. He'd never really thought about what it was like for people that met their soulmates before they were eighteen, but now he knew. Gods, the words tattooed on her were going to be, _"I, uh, sorry, I just,"_ and that was humiliating.

"You're a weird one, Gendry Waters," Arya said, a little smile on her face. "You know, my sister's car needs some repairing and I was planning on taking it to the shop we always go to, but maybe I'll come visit you."

"That'd be…" Gendry felt like his heart was pounding in his chest, the tattoo on his ribs burning. "Yeah, my boss would kill for some good business."

"I'll see you around." Arya waved once at him and then walked out the door but not out of his life.

The next two years were going to be weird and grueling and drive him up a wall, but it'd be worth it in the end. Maybe. Hopefully. Gods, Arya Stark was going to be the death of him, most like.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: So I honestly thought that I'd posted the other two chapters of this, only to realize that I hadn't. Yeah, I felt like a big dumb idiot for that. This is a three-parter. There will be one more chapter after this. Woo?

Disclaimer: Not mine. Not even the AU idea.

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**all good things comes to those who wait**  
_part ii_

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Being best friends with your soulmate before your soulmate knew that she was your soulmate had to be the most frustrating thing on the planet.

It wasn't that he couldn't just rush up to her and kiss her on the lips or that he had to deal with her talking about Ned fucking Dayne (not that he was jealous or that she even liked the other boy, but really now, did they have to sit so close to one another and share secrets and–) or that he couldn't tell her about her words tattooed on his ribcage when his words hadn't yet been placed on her. It wasn't that he was so close to her and she would get so close to him that he could smell the smoke from a bonfire she'd been to before coming over to his place or how he always felt so embarrassed when around her and her rich friends. It wasn't that she didn't know.

The most frustrating part was that Gendry couldn't just allow himself to fall in love with Arya Stark, not yet at least.

_"You can't tell her,"_ Mya had insisted multiple times over the phone. _"It could – I don't know – ruin something. I'm not really an expert on these things."_

No one was an expert on these things. And even if there were experts on this sort of thing, Gendry didn't want to talk to them. He could hit up that late night hotline where the supposed brilliant psychic Melisandre gave all her helpful (though mostly very disturbing) future predictions about the tattoos pressed onto their skins, but he wasn't that desperate. (Or was he? No, no, he had to set that phone down right now.)

_Just less than a year,_ Gendry told himself as he pulled up to the school in his car. A year felt like a fucking lifetime when he spent nearly every day with the girl that was supposed to love him one day and not just call him a stupid head whenever he was being a stubborn idiot.

He put the car in park and turned it off, not wanting to waste gas. Rubbing his face against his hands, he asked himself for the hundredth time why he was here or how he'd allowed her to con him into picking her up from school every Friday when she had a chauffeur. She had been so insistent though upon first finding out that he was finally getting a car. He hated coming to this place. He didn't fit in. One semester was worth more than his car, his apartment, and everything in it put together.

A sudden smack on the hood of his car startled Gendry out of his thoughts. "Oh, look, there's your loser boyfriend, Arya!" Standing in the front of his car was a blonde-haired boy, some prick named Joffrey, also known as Arya's sister's boyfriend. Gendry was half in mind to turn his car on and hit the kid real quick, but then thought about the lawsuit and jail time and forever being in debt.

"Shut up, you asshat," Arya's familiar voice snapped. She was hurrying towards the car, her backpack slung over her shoulders. Running while wearing a skirt wasn't the most lady-like thing, but just because she'd been forced into a dress code did not mean that Arya adhered to everything else expected of her. She grabbed the handle and opened the door. "And he's not my boyfriend."

Gendry looked out his window and squinted into the sun. Those words didn't sting any less after being said for the thousandth time.

"Yeah, he was probably so broke that he was skipped over for a tattoo and never got one," Joffrey said, a sneer on his face. Before Arya could respond (as Gendry never responded to Joffrey out of fear that saying one word to the boy would land his ass in jail), Sansa appeared and grabbed hold of her boyfriend's arm, pulling him away.

After glowering in their direction for a moment and still very much silent, Gendry turned his car back on and then pulled away from the prep school. They usually went to the baseball field after this. At first, she'd liked watching him play, but after a while, he'd been able to convince the guys to let her join. It wasn't like they were the major leagues or anything after all. Arya turned on the radio and leaned back in her seat, kicking her shoes off and putting her feet on the dashboard. When he glanced over at her, he saw that she had her face tilted into the sunlight, sunglasses shielding her eyes, her dark brown hair flowing messily into her face and falling out of its ponytail, and she was waving her hand in the air outside of the window like it was riding waves.

Gods she was beautiful, even if he knew that she never felt like it.

"Let's go to the river," Arya suddenly said, right when he was about to make the turn to the fields.

Gendry gave her a peculiar look, but shrugged his shoulders and headed in that direction. He liked the river and knew a good spot where they could go. It was covered in cattails and had a lot of frogs, but was also covered in shade by some trees that were growing in the water. Not a lot of people went there, which was exactly the reason why he liked it so much. Being in a shop full of guys all day, even if he was able to focus on just the cars once in a while, and then being around so many people when he was off work exhausted him after a while. Arya wasn't the quietest of people, but she had her contemplative moments that still caught him off guard.

It wasn't until they got to the river that Gendry realized he hadn't said a single word since he'd gotten off work and gone to pick her up from school. "Um, we're here." She nodded her head and hopped out of the car before he'd even turned it off. He followed her slowly. By the time he reached the bank, she was already on the ground taking her socks off. "Sorry I didn't bring a picnic or anything. Wasn't exactly planning on going here."

Arya didn't even bother looking back at him. "I'm not really in the picnic mood anyways. We can go get a bite after."

Gendry cocked his head slightly. "After what?"

"After we go for a swim."

For a second, Gendry thought he might've forgotten how to breathe. Go for a swim. It seemed simple and innocent enough. And he'd definitely gone for a swim in the river before, especially in this part, but not with Arya. As far as he was concerned, all parts of his clothing stayed firmly on when he was around her, and he made sure it was the same for her. One time before a game she'd started changing in his car while he was driving and he'd nearly wrecked when he'd accidentally caught a glimpse of her bra. That argument had been awkward. He was only two years older than her, but she was still only seventeen. The shit that could've landed him in…

(Arya Stark landed him in a lot of shit, if truth be told. Sometimes, tattoo or not, soulmate or not, Gendry wondered why he'd become best friends with her in the first place.)

That was when it hit him – what she was doing. She wasn't just taking off her socks. She was stripping down to just her undergarments.

"Arya!" Gendry awkwardly looked away once she tossed her button up shirt to the side, revealing a white camisole that did not hide the green bra underneath. Who taught her how to color-coordinate anyways? "You can't just… We're still in public and it's in the middle of the day."

"No one comes down here," Arya replied stubborn, hooking her thumb into her skirt. "It's just us."

Gendry pressed his face into his hands for the second time that day. "Exactly. It's just us. I'm nineteen. You're not…"

"If it makes you feel any better," Arya told him, "the legal age of consent in this state is seventeen." He looked at her just for a second so that he could shoot her a humiliated glare. "But we're just going swimming. It's not like we're sneaking off to have sex in the bushes." When he refused to look at her or say anything, arms folded across his chest in defiance, she changed her tactics. "C'mon, Gendry, please. It's super hot and sunny outside; and I had such a bad day. Joffrey was being a shit all day and I messed up a super important test and I just…I need to relax."

Why? Why did he allow her to do this to him time and time again? How could he be so stubborn and bull-headed with everyone else, but the moment it came to Arya, he bent to her will like it was nothing.

Sighing, Gendry looked back at her in defeat. "Okay, fine."

"Great!" Arya smiled brilliantly. "Now get out of those pants."

Being best friends – being just friends – with the girl he was supposed to fall in love with was the actual worst.

It was even worse after she slipped her skirt down her legs. He caught a glimpse of her pale skin and determinedly did not look at her underwear before she jumped into the water. After standing there for a while, Gendry slowly began to unbuckle his pants, telling himself the thousands of reasons why this was a terrible idea. When he was just down to his boxers and undershirt, he froze. He couldn't take off his shirt. She would see the tattoo and then she would know and things would get super weird between them. She might not talk to him for months or years or ever again. He had to keep his shirt on, no matter what.

The moment he stepped into the water and Arya caught sight of him still wearing his shirt, she frowned. "You're not self conscious or something, are you?"

"What?" Gendry looked down at his shirt and connected the dots. "No, I'm not. I'm fine."

"Because you shouldn't be," Arya said, splashing around in the water. "I've seen you changing in the dugouts and you're in shape."

Gendry couldn't help himself. He actually blushed. "You know, spying on people when they're changing is kind of creepy."

"And the way girls throw themselves at you sometimes…" Arya rolled her eyes in disgust.

"They do not…" Gendry shook his head. "That's beside the point. I just…I don't want to get sunburned."

Arya snorted. "In the shade?"

"I sunburn real easily," Gendry insisted.

She shrugged her shoulders and started to float on her back in the water. Again, he had to look away. He didn't know why she was so careless or why she was so comfortable around him even. She was just in her undergarments and he was a guy and she trusted him to not do anything. He didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand he was glad that she felt so comfortable and trusting of him, but on the other, it made him feel like she wasn't attracted to him in the slightest and would only ever think of him as a friend. Could some people only have platonic soulmates?

For a while, nothing was said. Gendry was okay with that. She was in one of her contemplative moods, something he'd learned how to handle after nearly a year of knowing her. Arya was loud and rowdy and very aggressive in everything she did, positive or negative, but she had her quiet moments. Apparently she liked being around only him when she felt like this because he never felt the need to fill the silence with pointless small talk.

And then she spoke up. "Do you have a soulmate tattoo?"

If the water could swallow him up and he could hide in the mud, that would've been brilliant. He honestly didn't know what to say, so he sank further into the water and turned away, trying to pretend that he hadn't heard her. She wasn't looking at him, still floating on her back and staring up at the sky, so she could've been talking to that bird up in the tree. Maybe if he just ignored the question a little longer…

"I know you heard me," she added. She switched positions so that she was bobbing upright in the water and looking at him curiously. "You said it yourself. You're nineteen. So that means you'd have the tattoo, you know, unless…"

Gendry glanced away from her. "No, I mean – yeah, I have one."

He could've sworn her eyes lit up in that moment and she wore a strange look on her face. He couldn't tell what that look meant at all because he didn't know if it was good or bad. She swam closer towards him and he backed up a little, making her stop cold.

"Can I see it?"

"No. It's…it's in a weird spot."

"It's somewhere on your torso, isn't it," Arya deadpanned. "That's why you wouldn't take your shirt off."

Gendry wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to her. He couldn't let her see the words because then she would know and he had no idea what the ramifications of her knowing would be. Maybe it would be nothing; maybe it would be everything. (Maybe he should have called that damn Melisandre soulmate tattoo hotline.) What he did know was that he didn't want things to change between them. He didn't want her to feel weird.

Most importantly, he didn't want her to think that he was just friends with her because he knew that she was his soulmate. Yeah, on one hand, he had sought her out and befriended her because he wanted to get to know who the hell his soulmate was, but on the other hand, he genuinely valued her friendship and enjoyed being around her, no matter how much she drove him crazy sometimes. Gendry knew for a fact that he did love Arya, not necessarily in a romantic way either, not yet. She was stubborn and difficult as hell, but she was also loyal to a fault and incredibly compassionate and clever.

"C'mon, just let me see it," Arya insisted. "Sansa wouldn't let me see hers either. She said its special, only meant for the eyes of the person that says the words, or whatever."

Even if that logic were true, that wouldn't have applied for him. Damn.

"Well, she's right," Gendry told her, "and it's, uh, it's embarrassing and kind of weird."

Arya furrowed her brows. "You can tell me anything though. We're best friends." All the while, she got closer to him. He was so busy looking nervous and uncomfortable that he didn't even notice. "You don't have to be so weird around me."

"Yeah, well–"

Gendry didn't get the chance to finish. Arya pounced on him at the last minute, knocking him off his feet. He went flailing backwards and was dunked under the water, Arya on top of him. For a moment, both of them struggled in the water, but he had the clear advantage. Out of the water, he was able to carry Arya around like she was nothing; with the water helping him, he was easily able to defend himself from her trying to jerk his shirt off.

Pushing himself out of the water, he held onto Arya tightly. "What the hell?" he sputtered out. "Are you trying to drown me?"

"I just want to see!" Arya said, sounding like she was pouting and throwing a tantrum. He shook the water out of his eyes and looked at her. She looked kind of sad. He was holding onto her wrists, making sure that she couldn't grab at him again, and she had herself pressed up flush against him, panting and out of breath from being under water for so long while fighting with him.

_I should kiss her._

Gendry blinked a few times. She was right there, right in front of him. Her hair was plastered on top of her head, water dripping everywhere, and her chest was rising and falling in the water with every deep breath that she took. He already had a hold of her and she was so close. He could feel where her skin was touching his and despite being in the cool water it made him burn up. All he had to do was lean down and press his lips against hers. That was it.

_What the hell are you thinking? Arya Stark does not want you trying to kiss her._

He let go of her and she pulled herself away from him, glowering and rubbing her wrists. "Sorry if I hurt you," he muttered, glancing back down. "It's just… I don't know how I feel about it, you know? Maybe it doesn't make any sense, but… My mom didn't have a tattoo. She tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, especially because she'd had me before she was eighteen, before she knew that she didn't have a soulmate, but I feel…I feel guilty about having one sometimes. Why do I get a soulmate when she didn't? What was wrong with my mom? Was it because she was going to die before she had the chance to meet her soulmate or did she just not have one?"

When he looked up at her, Arya wore a soft look on her face, one that he'd never seen her wear before. Arya was anything but soft. She didn't do gentle very often. So this look on her right now startled him. Sighing, she reached out and placed a hand on his arm. "I guess I was being kind of insensitive." She smiled at him encouragingly. "Listen; you're my best friend, Gendry – I trust you with pretty much anything – but if you're not ready to tell me or show me the tattoo, then that's fine. It is kind of a big deal. I guess – I don't know – I guess I'm kind of scared that I won't have one."

"You'll have one," Gendry said immediately, maybe too quickly, but he didn't care.

"How can you be so sure?" Arya sounded so scared, more scared than he'd ever heard her sound before. It made him want to pull her back into his arms and hold her close to him, hug her until she never felt or sounded or looked scared again.

"I just know." Gendry scratched the back of his head. "You're gonna have a tattoo. Someone's gonna have your words tattooed on them. And you're gonna fall in love."

Gendry wasn't right all the time and he certainly didn't know a lot when it came to this stuff, but he knew for sure that Arya was going to wake up and find a soulmate tattoo on her body on her eighteenth birthday, just as he knew that she would be loved. (He knew because he already loved her and he knew in his heart that he was going to fall in love with her the second that he could.)


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: Third and final chapter to this little thing! Thank you all so much for reading! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the idea for this AU. Sigh.

* * *

**it sure left its mark on us**  
_part three_

* * *

"Stay with me?"

Gendry barely had the chance to glance up from the book he was reading before Arya practically jumped onto him on the couch. He fell over awkwardly as she scrambled into a more comfortable position, though still on top of him. There was a lot of grunting and uncomfortable touches from her hands and him trying to separate himself from her. All in all, it was not graceful whatsoever.

It had been two years since they'd become a strange assortment of friends; and she had only gotten worse when it came to personal space. Hot Pie insisted that she was only this way with Gendry, considering all the complaints Lommy made about Gendry getting all of Arya's attention, but he didn't think about that.

"Um, stay with you?" Gendry sat his book down on the coffee table. "You are aware that this is my apartment, right? So that would mean…"

Arya rolled her eyes and leaned back against the armrest of the couch opposite of his side. "You know what I meant." She propped her feet up on his legs and stretched out, still giving him plenty of space on the couch. "I just…" Huffing at him, she turned away and bit her lip. She only made that face when she was scared; and she only made it around him. "I don't want to be alone."

He knew what she meant. Tomorrow was her eighteenth birthday. Tomorrow would be the day when she woke up with her soulmate tattoo. Tomorrow would be the day when she found out that he was her soulmate.

(Gods be good, Gendry was fucking terrified.)

"And your parents will be totally cool with you staying the night?" Gendry asked dryly.

She wrinkled her nose and threw a pillow at him in response. "Why do you always have to worry about my parents?"

"Oh, I don't know. Because I don't want them to hate me?"

"They don't hate you; they love you." Arya folded her arms across her chest. "Even Sansa loves you, probably more than she loves me. You're like…the greatest guy ever. They trust you."

Gendry eyed her for a second. He could tell that she was being defensive – but he could also tell that she was only acting that way because she thought she was speaking the truth and it may have upset her a little. He'd seen the kinds of arguments that she got into with her older sister and she'd heard about all the times she hadn't seen eye-to-eye with her more proper mother, but he'd also seen how much she loved her family and how much her family loved her. It made him feel nostalgic and guilty, like he shouldn't be there intruding.

"Alright, you can stay," Gendry finally told her.

A ghost of a smile crossed her lips and she sunk further into the couch, finally getting comfortable. He hadn't even realized how tensed up she was until that moment. This whole tattoo thing must've really been freaking her out. He felt kind of bad that he hadn't told her anything, but he just hadn't known what to do. What if telling her that she was his soulmate somehow messed things up?

After that, they picked a movie to watch, some sci-fi action movie called Pacific Rim that Arya had been dying to see since she'd found the trailer. (And hey, what person in their right mind didn't like a movie that had giant robots versus aliens? He'd seen all the Transformers movies, too, thank you, but this movie felt like a blessing.)

They never sat in silence when it came to movies. One or both of them would get too excited, start shouting things, waving their hands in the air, jumping around on the couch. Arya especially had a bad habit of smacking him on the arm or leg when she got too into the movie. He kept still for the most part, one arm draped over her ankles and the other on the armrest. It occurred to him how comfortable this was, how so very easy it was to be around her, even though she had no idea that he was her soulmate. It was like…like she didn't have to know. Or maybe he was just imagining things.

By the time the film was over, it was almost like the two of them had forgotten what was in store for them when the sun rose.

Another movie came on, this one not so exciting. Gendry couldn't even remember what it was called. All he knew was that halfway through the movie, when he glanced over at her, he found Arya asleep on the couch. She looked more peaceful than he'd seen her in weeks.

Carefully disentangling himself from her, Gendry stood up and stretched. After turning off the TV, he tiptoed over towards her and scooped her into his arms. She didn't even make a sound. Arya slept like a rock always. Sleeping was the only time when she wasn't moving around. He carried her into his bedroom and laid her down gently on his unmade bed. The bed was a twin, barely big enough for him considering how tall he was, but it was just the right size for her. Definitely not both of them, nope. He couldn't fit in there with her unless they were cuddled up, pressed against one another…

_You are one hell of a gentleman, Gendry Waters,_ he thought, shaking his head at himself.

He placed the blanket over her and then walked out of the bedroom, shutting the door. Getting a ratty blanket and flat pillow from his closet, he set himself up on couch, tried not think about his best friend lying in his bed, and shut his eyes, willing himself to sleep.

It could've been ten seconds or ten minutes or maybe even a few hours, but Gendry woke up to someone shaking his arm. For one disoriented moment, he jumped up quickly, ready to fight whoever had broken into his apartment and decided to wake him up before stealing the few things he owned, when he spotted Arya standing before him, hugging a pillow against her chest.

"M'sorry," Gendry muttered blearily, rubbing at his eyes. "What's wrong? Bed not comfy enough?"

"I don't want to be alone," Arya grumbled, her eyes darting away from him in the dark.

Gendry sighed. "Arya…"

"Please?" Her voice was so small, like a mouse, and it ran away from her. She refused to look at him; and he knew that she must have fought with herself over coming out her to wake him up and ask him this. She had no idea how much he ached to do just what she wanted, but he also knew that tomorrow morning was going to be one complicated mess for the both of them.

(But gods did he love her and did he never want to look this frightened and alone again.)

Nodding his head, Gendry pulled himself to his feet and allowed Arya to lead him into his own bedroom. She crawled into the bed first, scooting over to give him some room. It still wouldn't be enough. Almost painfully, he lowered himself onto the mattress and then scooted in next to her, pulling the blanket over them both. It took a minute of situating for him to know that there was no getting around cuddling. There just wasn't any room to put even an inch of space between them. The heat of her body kept him warmer than the blanket; and she had to be able to feel his heart hammering in his chest.

_Keep it together, Waters,_ he told himself. _You best let that be the only thing she feels, gods._

Trying not to cringe, Gendry pressed his eyes shut and rolled onto his back, folding his arms across his chest. It definitely wasn't the most comfortable position, but he'd fallen asleep in worse ways. A few minutes later though, and Arya rolled over to her other side so that she was facing him and threw an arm over his chest, nuzzling into his side.

Gendry couldn't help himself. He let out a small choking sound.

"Oh, shut up, stupid head, and go to sleep," Arya mumbled in response. "It's comfier this way."

This girl… Why couldn't he have been given a soulmate that wasn't the most stubborn and ridiculous person on the planet?

In the end, she was right though. He was able to relax and slowly drifted off to sleep. For the most part, he could never remember any of his dreams. Normally, he knew that they were wild and vivid and that was about it, but tonight, all his dreams were distant and calm. As usual, she didn't roll around in her sleep and stayed very still against him; and for the first time really, he didn't toss and turn like he always did every night.

When Gendry woke up the next morning, he turned over – only to find that he was alone in bed. He sat up quickly and looked around, but there was no Arya in sight. Panic seized his heart. What if…? Oh god, what if she'd seen her tattoo, realized that they were his words, and ran out of his apartment before he'd woken up? What if she was disgusted? What if she was upset? What if she hated him for not telling her?

He had to find his phone right now and call her and explain and–

And then Arya walked into his bedroom, wearing one of his huge t-shirts. Her dark hair was wet and dripping a little at her feet, her right hand gripping her left forearm tightly at her side. "It's cool that I took a shower, right?"

"Uh, yeah, it's…" Gendry scratched the back of his head. "So, did you…?"

Arya blushed. "I got a glimpse in the mirror, but I…I didn't look at it."

He gulped down a lump in his throat. "Did you want me to…?"

"I don't…" She shook her head. "Oh this is so stupid!" She stormed over to him and then sat down on the edge of the bed, practically shoving her arm in his face and looking away, her eyes shut tight. "Just read it for me, will you?"

Gendry saw the words tattooed on her arm, stark against the pale skin, but only for a second. He smiled to himself, looking down at his hand by her leg, and laughed a little to himself.

Arya peered at him with one eye. "What are you laughing about? Is it stupid? Just read it to me!"

"I don't have to read your tattoo to know what it says, Arya," was all he could say.

Looking him fully in the face with a suspicious, Arya asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Despite blushing, despite his nerves being shot, despite feeling like he wanted to jump out of his second story window, Gendry lifted up his shirt in response, showing his soulmate tattoo as an answer. Words didn't really need to be said when all the words they need had been spoken already.

_Watch where you're going, you stupid head, _was tattooed on his side.

_I, uh, sorry, I just_, was tattooed on her forearm.

When Gendry glanced up, he found Arya wide-eyed, mouth parted, and utterly in shock. He dropped his shirt and shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what he was supposed to say now. Two years he'd waited. Two years he'd known that this absurd girl was his soulmate. Two years he'd been tortured and teased and taunted by everything the universe could throw at him. And now she finally knew too and he felt like the whole world had shifted underneath them, that when he walked outside of his apartment and headed for work, he'd be someone wholly different.

"You're my…you're my soulmate?" Arya finally got out.

"Uh, yeah…"

What the hell was he supposed to do now? What were they supposed to do? People didn't just randomly fall in love with someone once they knew that they were soulmates. Sometimes, it took people years before they actually got together with their soulmate upon finding them. He'd heard stories of how some people refused to get together and believe it because they didn't like what they saw. What if that was the case with them? After all, he was poor and lowborn and had little to offer someone like her.

"I…"

Well, this was decidedly more awkward than he'd anticipated. He hadn't pictured her being so quiet.

Gendry ducked his head. "Look; I know that I'm not the greatest guy or pick or whatever for soulmate, so I feel kind of like shit for – I don't know – for you getting stuck with me–"

"Oh my god," Arya groaned, "would you just shut up?"

Before he could even respond, Arya threw herself at him again and knocked him back on his bed, just like she'd done last night when she'd asked to stay over last night. This time though, instead of pulling herself off of him, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him forcefully. Well, that was definitely one way of getting him to shut up. It also wasn't what he'd pictured happening over the last two years. As much as he'd thought about what it would be like to kiss her and imagined it happening, he had never pictured her being the one to kiss him or even want to kiss him.

But holy hell, did it feel like some sort of release.

She moved so that she was practically straddling him on the bed, kissing his lips and then his jaw and down his neck, all the way back up to his lips, which drove him absolutely mad. She kissed him with as much abandon as he felt burning in his mind. Finally, finally, he was able to pull her close to him, one hand on her hip and the other on his back. She had one hand tangled in his hair and the other on his scruffy face.

When both of them stopped for a second to breathe, Gendry couldn't help but laugh. "Gods, Arya, you don't know how long I've wanted to do that."

"Probably about as long as I've wanted you to do it," Arya told him, smiling and biting her lip.

"Oh, I doubt that," Gendry muttered against her lips. She practically giggled. Since when did Arya bloody Stark giggle of all things? "I thought you might know half the time what with the way you bloody tortured me so much."

"Nah, I'm just evil like that."

"Well now," Gendry said before flipping them over so that he was the one on top. He grinned down at her and she smirked back in response. Typical Arya. She had another thing coming though. He ran a hand along the skin of her flat stomach, just barely, just enough to make her stomach flutter and her squirm a little. "Two can play at that game, you know."

After suddenly gasping under his touch, Arya practically growled at him. "Jerk."

Gendry laughed again. "What can I say? I've got years of pent up frustration to let out."

Arya pulled him down into a kiss and then bucked up against his hips; and it took everything in him not to just melt and groan. Damn this girl. "Well then what are you waiting for?" she demanded.

She was right. He didn't have to wait any longer.


End file.
